Not One of Those Women

"I know, but that's not what I was going to say, but thank you anyway you don't have to put yourself out for me like this." She reached for me and I went willingly, I hope that the kiss wasn't just to convince me that her taking me up on my offer wasn't her agreement to sex.

We talked and held hands until it was time for me to leave. I promised her that I would be back in the morning and her kiss was one of passion. I could feel a stirring in my pants as I left.

I arrived the next morning anticipating her greeting but my hopes were dashed by the sight of her empty bed. Where was she? Fear overcame me as I walked to the nurses' station. "Where is Celeste, the lady in room 19?"

"She had an appointment with the Psychiatrist this morning, obviously she's not back yet, but you can wait for her over there." She pointed to some lounge chairs in an alcove off the corridor. "We'll let you know when she's back."

I tried to settle my mind but it was no use, I succumbed to the temptation of old gossip mags and sat staring at the pages as I flicked through them without taking in any of the bullshit. I heard feet hurrying down the corridor and looked up as Celeste launched herself at me, clinging to me. "I can go home." Then she looked at me. "Only I don't have a home to go to."

"Celeste, my home is your home for however long you need it. Come, your chariot awaits." I led her to my car, it was nothing special, just your run of the mill small hatch (Mazda 3) but it was mine and I liked it. I put her big bag with the dodgy catch in back along with her stuff that I'd retrieved from the bus station locker, and we set off. I lived in a small block of five single storey units two streets back from the main road so it was relatively quiet. It was furnished with stuff that I'd saved from the wreck of my marriage and a new flat screen TV and surround sound speakers, my one concession to modernity.

I showed her the spare room and helped her stow her things away before heading for the kitchen and making us both a cup of coffee. "I don't believe it!" I looked and she was searching through my collection of DVD's. "You've got 'Sleepless in Seattle', how many men have that?"

"I confess. I watch it from time to time because I'm a hopeless romantic and for its message of hope." I put the coffees down on the coffee table along with a plate with slices of my world famous boiled fruit cake. "If you really want a real tear jerker this is the one. I defy you to sit through it with dry eyes." I gave her a DVD.

"I've never even heard of this." She turned the case over and read the blurb on the back. "What a strange name, August Rush."

"If you like I'll put it on."

"I'd like that, I need a good cry." She picked up a slice of my cake, sniffed it and took a bite. "Wow! What's in this?"

"Ah, I'll let you in on my secret recipe. The first step takes place two to three days before the cake is baked, you get a large microwave container and into that you put about 500 grams of dried mixed fruit, some butter, a large spoonful of ginger marmalade some honey, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. You then cover it with Port. Then you nuke it in the microwave until it boils, you take it out, and this is why you have to have a large container, you add a heaped teaspoon of baking soda and wait until the frothing subsides. Then you cover it with cling wrap and put it in the fridge for a couple of days so that the fruit really absorbs the juices."

"Now for the cheating part. After you prepare the cake tin, empty the fruit mix into a colander over a bowl so that the liquid will drain into it. Then you take a dark chocolate cake mix and follow the instructions up to the part where you add the liquid. Measure that amount of the liquid from what's drained from the fruit mix, add a little water if there's not enough, and use that to complete the batter, it should be a little thicker than a normal batter. Then the fruit is folded in and it's poured into the prepared cake tin and placed into a slow oven for about an hour and a half to two hours or until a skewer comes out dry."

I put the DVD into the player and we settled down on the sofa to watch it. By the time it had finished she had her face buried in my chest and I could feel her tears soaking through my shirt. "That was so sad but so happy as well, and the cast were so good you would think that they actually played those instruments."

"Guess what? They did, it took months of practise to get it right but they actually played the songs."

"Even the cello recital?"

"Even that."

"You are full of surprises, do you know that?"

"So I've been told. I consider myself pretty dull and boring."

"I think that I can learn to like a dull and boring hopeless romantic, it sure as hell beats someone who has to be the dominator." She sniffed and wiped away the tears that had tracked down her cheeks. "Will you kiss me?" I obliged to the best of my ability, it was a soft kiss, no pressure and definitely no tongue. "Now will you make love to me, I want to see how a hopeless romantic makes love." I kissed her again, a little harder this time and she responded. I kissed her neck and her ear lobe and her neck again and my hand moved to cup her breast. She made no attempt to stop me so I opened her top and caressed bare skin. A sob escaped from her lips as she reacted to my caresses.

I took my time allowing her to savour every touch, every caress, a shiver ran through her every time I touched her as I removed her clothes until she was completely naked and then when my tongue entered her pussy her body convulsed through an intense orgasm. "Oh my god that was amazing!" She sobbed.

"Haven't you ever had an orgasm before?"

"Well yes I have, but never that strong. When I first started going with my husband, before we were married, I would have regular orgasms, not every time but often. Then after we got married all of that changed, he changed. It was all about him, the start was always with me sucking his cock, then he'd fuck me and once he came that was it. And then he started on the rough stuff, he preferred to do it doggy style and he would really ram it in hard, I would be sore afterwards. Then he started smacking me on the arse, at first a gentle smack but then it got harder and harder until he would leave red welts on my arse cheeks. Then he began on my face, I couldn't go out for days after that because of the red marks. I decided that enough was enough when he wanted to choke me, he said it would give me and orgasm but it did the opposite, so I told him that I didn't want to have sex with him anymore. It was then that I also broke the bad, or good depending on whose side you were on, news that I couldn't have children."

"And that was when he told you to get out?"

"No, that came a couple of months later. He had started staying out all night and I was certain that he was having an affair so I confronted him. He admitted the affair and threw me out. You know the rest."

"That doesn't really explain why you were so depressed."

"I was depressed because I had no-one to turn to and the very thought of a relationship with another man was so scary because I thought that all men would be like him. And then I met you and you have been so gentle and so kind to me that you've pretty much restored my faith in men. Now will you finish making love to me, please?"

The intake of breath and the raising of her hips that accompanied my cock's entrance into her pussy was the start of her new experience, of being made love to by a hopeless romantic. I maintained a slow steady beat, pausing at the top of each stroke before pulling almost out of her and starting again. While I was doing this I kissed her lips, her throat, her nipples, I suckled on her, I gently nipped her neck and she had two sobbing orgasms before her third that coincided with my first and that filled her with years of pent up sperm and emotions. It was my turn to sob.

"What's wrong Darling?"

"I've never felt so much pleasure with a woman as I've just experienced with you, thank you. I had almost given up hope on ever being with a woman that I could love like we've just made love. That wasn't sex that was the real deal, Celeste, I know that we've only just met and we were both what you would call damaged goods, but I believe that I'm in love with you." Her hug that almost succeeded in squeezing every bit of breath out of me confirmed that she shared my feelings.

I led her to my bedroom and she joined me in my bed. We hugged for a while and kissed often and then she went to sleep in my arms. My brain was spinning at a hundred miles an hour, how was I going to break the news to her that our meeting wasn't a coincidence? Eventually her gentle breathing lulled me into a deep sleep. I woke to sounds from the kitchen, it was now dark and the luminous dial of my clock radio told me that it was 8:55, I had slept for almost five hours.

I scrambled out of bed, threw a robe on and headed for the source of the noise, Celeste, naked Celeste, was busy cooking something that smelt delicious. "Hi, that smells nice, what is it?"

She turned and came into my willing arms. "You can get rid of that for a start." She untied my robe and helped me take it off. "This is just a little something that I've thrown together from the little that's available in your cupboard. We are going to have to do some shopping if you want me to stay here." She served up the meal. "Have you any red wine?"

I got out a bottle and opened it. The meal mightn't have been haute cuisine but it sure as hell beat my humble efforts, I find it difficult to cook for one person and tend to make lots of stuff that can be frozen for later. The meal and wine finished and the washing up done we adjourned once more to my, our, bed. This time it was almost an hour before we were ready for sleep, an hour of sublime love making. I woke in the early hours of the morning and the thoughts of how I would explain our meeting to her kept me tossing and turning for some time. "What's the matter Darling?" Her hand reached for my face and drew it to her lips. "We can't do anything about it at the moment so go back to sleep, we'll deal with it in the morning." Her hand reached down and encircled my cock. "Or, we could always make love again." She began to stroke him and my problems disappeared, for now.

"Darling," she was buttering toast while I made the coffee, "how is it that you're not rushing off to the office or building site or wherever?"

"I'm currently on sick leave. I've got several weeks' worth of accumulated leave that I'm working through before I resign."

"What will you do then?" She was curious.

"How would you like a trip into the country?" She was even more curious.

"I'd like that."

"Right, as soon as we've finished here and had a shower, we're off to the wilds of the country."

Celeste looked great in a pair of my shorts that almost fitted her and a shirt that was way too big for her. After an hour's drive we pulled off the road, through a gate onto a gravel track that led through the gum trees to a clearing about a kilometre away. The house looked as if it had been there for centuries but was new, built to an old plan. Behind the house was a row of sheds behind which were yards enclosed in high wire mesh fences. A woman came out onto the front veranda as we pulled up. "Hi big brother, what brings you out here today?" She saw Celeste getting out of the car. "And who's this person and why is she wearing your clothes?"

"Amy, this is Celeste, Celeste, Amy, my little sister and the person who looks after this place for me." They hugged and kissed each other on the cheek. They gave each other a quick searching look before smiling at each other and it wasn't a courtesy smile.

"Come in, I'll put the kettle on and then we can give this lovely lady a guided tour of the farm.

We walked to the sheds. Along the front wall was a row of flaps, under which were nesting boxes. I lifted a flap and in the nest of straw was a couple of eggs, I took one out and felt that it was still warm. "This is what it is all about, these are classified as free range eggs because the chooks have free range grazing in the yards out back, they come in here to lay and they're locked in at night so the foxes can't get to them." I opened the door at the end of the shed and led her inside, along the back wall were several rows of perches with fresh straw underneath. "We clean this out once a week and a truck comes from a local mushroom farm and collects it, they use it as the basis for their growing medium. We produce all our own straw so all we have to buy in are the layer pellets."

"Is there a market for your eggs?"

"It started off small but it's growing as more and more people see the benefits of free range eggs over cage production, we don't have to put dye in the feed to produce orange yolks and we use shell grit to strengthen the egg shells rather than crushed marble, although it could be argued that they are pretty much the same." I led her back outside and around to the back of the sheds. "You'll notice that the yard here is divided into two sections. There's a flap leading from the shed into each yard and one can be closed off. What we do is to close one yard and plant wheat in it, while that's growing the chooks are in the other yard scratching around and eating fresh green feed, that's what gives the brightest orange yolks. The chooks are happy and happy chooks lay the best eggs."

"Where do you sell them?"

"Our market is primarily to the restaurant trade and small supermarket chains, we have stalls at farmers' markets and they do well. One of the major supermarket chains has been sniffing around to see if we can provide the number of eggs that they're looking for, and we're talking huge numbers, we'll need to expand to almost twice our current size to meet that demand."

"Are you going to supply to them?"

"I don't know. They're trying to beat us down in price and that will cut our margins significantly, the other condition that's causing headaches is that they want exclusivity, and that will stop us selling to anyone else. We have built up a loyal following that I don't want to disappoint."

"Would I be stepping out of line if I told you not to sell to that supermarket chain?"

"No, I've almost come to that decision myself. One of the other reasons for choosing not to sell to them is that they sell eggs now that are labelled 'free range' that are at best barn raised."

We went back to the house where Amy had prepared lunch for us, not surprisingly the meal contained eggs, a quiche. "I suppose that he's told you all about his plans for the farm, about the supermarket and all that?"

"Yes, we've been discussing it."

"Did he tell you that I'm against it?"

"Hey I'm here too. Yes we did discuss it and we've both reached the decision not to sell to the supermarket chain, satisfied?" Amy got up and walked around the table and gave me a huge hug.

"So, when do you plan to move down here full time so that I can get on with my life rather than slave away looking after your chooks for you?"

"So Bill's finished fitting out the motorhome he's been working on for the past couple of years and you're setting off on your big adventure?"

"It's ready, all we need is for you to get shot of your lousy job and move down and we're off into the wild blue yonder, at least the whole of Australia yonder."

"That sounds great, I'm jealous." Celeste said.

"If you ever get sick of boring old Peter you can always give us a ring and we'll tell you where you can find us."

"That's not likely to happen." She reached for me and gave me a big sloppy kiss.

"If you two want some privacy I've got plenty of work to do, like gather eggs and grade them and pack them and load them into the van for the delivery run in the morning." She was fishing for us to help out so we did. Celeste entered into the spirit of the work and seemed happy collecting the eggs from the nesting boxes and placing them into baskets on a trolley before I pushed it into the cleaning and packing shed.

Before dinner I had enough time to go over the books (computer spread sheets) that told me that our market had grown by ten percent in the past month, we were doing quite well and making a healthy profit.

Amy came in. "I like Celeste, she's really nice. When are you going to tell her about your job?"

"In a couple of days, I need to finish up what I'm doing. What I'm going to suggest is that she stays here for a couple of days while I get it sorted and I'll tell her when I get back. I need you to promise not to say anything and to look after her, I don't want to lose her."

"Okay, I'll help you, but don't stuff this up, she's your last chance at happiness, I don't want to have to pick through the debris of your life to save you again."

"Thanks Amy, I don't know what I would have done without you over the past couple of years."

"Yeah I didn't want to be the one who told you that the bitch wasn't for you, you probably wouldn't have listened, she was a slut that you thought you could reform but it was never going to work and when she went back to her pimp and started that blackmail scam. It was only a matter of time before it came to a sticky end. You were lucky that you got the guts to get out before that happened but you still took it hard. This one is different, she's better. She's been put through the wringer and came close to losing it, but you've stepped in like the knight in shining armour that you are and saved the day. Having done that, look after her she's a keeper."

Celeste was happy to stay with Amy while I went back into town to finalise a few things. We were just about ready to pounce on her husband and a whole bunch of other guys in the porn ring that he was running. I needed time with him first to sort out a few things.

Michael Martin ran a business in two parts, the one that faced the street was a normal DVD hire store, but the section into which entry was gained through a discreet doorway leading from the rear car park dealt in a totally different kind of DVD. He catered for a wide spectrum of tastes from straight porn to gay porn, BDSM and a variety of fetishes, but his main trade was in child pornography and this was where the police (me and others) were about to strike. "Mr Martin, you former wife attempted suicide last week and when she was able to give us a coherent story of her life with you we discovered that you kicked her out of your home without a cent to her name, and you threatened to crucify her if she did anything about it. She has seen a lawyer who is preparing the paperwork for her divorce application in which she alleges a history of physical violence. Her lawyer is confident of getting at least eighty percent of joint property. What I'm proposing, with her lawyer's agreement, is that you sign over to her half of the value of the joint assets and she'll change her application to incompatibility."

"What makes you think that anyone will believe her, she's crazy."

"I think that this will be sufficient to prove her story." I took a DVD from my case, it was of the both of them having rough sex, it was obvious that it wasn't consensual violence that was going on between them, she was pleading with him to stop it but he wouldn't. It was also obvious that she wasn't aware that the whole episode was being recorded. This was only one of many examples of this type of sex on his shelves, many of them involving him with Celeste, this was one sick bastard and I wanted so much to bring him down. But first things first.

"What do you want?" He glared at me, I was his enemy right now.

"I want you to crank up your computer and access your banking records, then you are going to transfer this amount into this account." I showed him the paper with the amount and account details. He flinched at the amount but complied. The transaction processed I put the DVD on the desk in front of him, I never wanted to see it again, and walked out. The reason that I did this was because when what was to follow happened his assets would be frozen, including his bank accounts.